Vision Statement: Seven Reasons Why Africa’s Time Is Now

[Blackstar*]

Piece on Harvard Business Review site: link.

1. It's a huge market opportunity.
2. It's increasingly stable.
3. Intra-African trade is in its infancy.
4. It will soon have the world's largest workforce.
5. 20% of government spending goes to education.
6. Mobile is exploding.
7. It contains most of the world's uncultivated cropland.

[Wahalla]

I have investments in companies there.. Ophir energy, FAR, ect....I lost money on other investmetns Forte energy

I just bought into a start up called Fastjet that is looking at cheap flights interafrica...

To me the need for flights in Africa is a developmental ideal. to get between African countries it is easier at times to fly to Europe and then back in...It is a huge market and the national carriers who have at times a monoipoly charge a premium... Gaddaffi started one Afriqiyah back in 2001 buFastjest should have start flying between Tanazania and south Africa today ... but there was a paper work issue....

[Wahalla]

Cost of business in Africa is high, This is my experience... high energy, lack of trained personnel,supply chain issues, housing costs, corruption ooops "administration", bureaucratic inertia, lack of transparent bureaucratic systems, inefficent transport adds to the cost..... like Jamaica...

Here is a news report... on Fastjet...

African budget carrier Fastjet's first international flight delayed

Reuters - UK Focus – 19 hours ago

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Companies:

• FASTJET
• FastJet Plc

RELATED QUOTES

FJET.L	6.38	0.00
FSJPF	0.095	0.000

Sept 26 (Reuters) - African budget airline Fastjet Plc (Other OTC:FSJPF - news) said its first international flight, scheduled on Friday between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg, had been postponed after South African officials made a last-minute request for additional documents.
Fastjet, backed by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said it did not expect the delay to have a material effect on the financial performance of its Tanzanian unit.
Shares in London-listed Fastjet were down 9 percent at 5.91 pence at 1034 GMT.
The company, which has ambitions to become the first pan-African low-cost carrier, operates within Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola.
The airline said it delivered the documents without delay, but that the South African Department of Transport would need several days to process them.
"Administrative delays of this nature are not unusual in the markets in which we operate," Chief Executive Ed Winter said in a statement.
Fastjet said it would offer affected passengers a refund as well as a complimentary seat to fly within the next month, certain it will be operating the route by mid-October. (Reporting by Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

[Blackstar*]

Interesting, Wahalla. I would have thought housing costs to be relatively low in African countries, i.e. compared to N. America and Europe. The points you raise make perfect sense because we've seen it all in Jamaica.

This puts me in mind of a thread I started a few years ago about majority-black countries all having similar problems and levels of development. I must see if it's still around and bump it up - see if we have any fresh insight.

[Blackstar*]

Sept 26 (Reuters) - African budget airline Fastjet Plc (Other OTC:FSJPF - news) said its first international flight, scheduled on Friday between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg, had been postponed after South African officials made a last-minute request for additional documents.
Fastjet, backed by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said it did not expect the delay to have a material effect on the financial performance of its Tanzanian unit.
Shares in London-listed Fastjet were down 9 percent at 5.91 pence at 1034 GMT.
The company, which has ambitions to become the first pan-African low-cost carrier, operates within Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola.
The airline said it delivered the documents without delay, but that the South African Department of Transport would need several days to process them.
"Administrative delays of this nature are not unusual in the markets in which we operate," Chief Executive Ed Winter said in a statement.
Fastjet said it would offer affected passengers a refund as well as a complimentary seat to fly within the next month, certain it will be operating the route by mid-October. (Reporting by Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

I'm only sorry this airline wasn't founded by an African.

[Wahalla]

I'm only sorry this airline wasn't founded by an African.

i think there may have been in a earlier iteration....

[Wahalla]

Interesting, Wahalla. I would have thought housing costs to be relatively low in African countries, i.e. compared to N. America and Europe. The points you raise make perfect sense because we've seen it all in Jamaica.

This puts me in mind of a thread I started a few years ago about majority-black countries all having similar problems and levels of development. I must see if it's still around and bump it up - see if we have any fresh insight.

u know that mi nuh now ah ting....

yes and no.... to the house cost...local housing cheaper....However that is not quite the picture.... suppose u are a offical ....and u want to eat a food from someone else buisness... so this guy starts a company or u are a small international company comes in to start and operation.. the company has to bring in people and they have to provide services for them... houses cars mobile phone, schools for children, ect... so the offical who wants a food offer these support services at an inflated rate by signing a contract at cost plus... He will provide these services and if it is say up to a western middle class standard the costs are already high.....

The next is y cant they recruit locally... lack of local experience and skills...

Every thing thus affects teh bottom line.....and is lets us difficult to prove....

Few years back Luanda had the highest rent in the world for ex patriate housing....

[Wahalla]

today fastjet fell...but here is the statement from the CEO.... what itnerests me is the opportunity in aviation if u apply it across the continent which I highlighted in red.. EBIT in case u are wondering is Earnings before interst and tax....note they are still running at a loss..but they dont mention passanger numbers.. Here is a point I made on the are all black countries badly run thread about interest rates...Think a moment about what opening regional airports mean from the extra revenue streams ,employment... not to mention developmental


fastjet progresses


By StockMarketWire | Mon, 30th September 2013 - 07:32
Africa-focused airline fastjet said first-half underlying EBIT showed a loss of $24.9m including $13.3m trading losses in the Tanzanian operation.
· Tanzanian operation reported quarterly EBIT loss of US$9.1m in Q1 and US$4.2m in Q2 - a 54% reduction quarter on quarter.
· Net cash at 30th June 2013 was $4.4m. Subsequent to this $9.3m (gross) has been raised via equity issuance.
· fastjet Tanzania achieved US$81 revenue per passenger in June - almost double January's achieved rate of US$46.
· Tanzanian operation is now profitable on an underlying route level basis; and based on current performance once scale increases with additional routes and fully utilised resources the business is expected to become profitable at the EBIT level.
· Growing endorsement of the fastjet brand and low cost airline model by Tanzanian consumers
· Launch of the first international route, from Dar-es-Salaam to Johannesburg is expected imminently, with others planned in the near future.
· Development of an Airline Management Services organisation, enabling the fastjet brand to be rolled-out more rapidly across Africa; reducing shareholder risk and minimising capital requirements is underway.
· Restructuring of the legacy Fly540 businesses progressing well; further progress will be reported in due course; a further $5.7m of goodwill and intangible assets, and $8.8m of investments written down in the period.
CEO and Interim Chairman, Ed Winter, commented: 'We are extremely pleased with our operational performance in Tanzania and the endorsement of the fastjet brand by Tanzanian consumers. In response to our consistently high levels of operational reliability, passengers are rapidly adopting fastjet's low-cost model and booking early in order to pay the lowest prices and allowing us to yield manage to high load factors. We are significantly changing the view of air travel and taking the lead in developing the aviation industry in Tanzania.
'Building on our existing operation and the strong consumer faith in our brand, we are moving ahead with our growth plans and plan very soon to launch our first international route from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg. We expect to add further international routes over the next few months, including to destinations in Zambia and Malawi. In addition to this, we will be adding a fifth city, Mbeya, to our Tanzanian domestic network from 1st November following completion of the redevelopment of Songwe airport to accommodate modern jet aircraft.
'These interim results include start-up losses associated with launching fastjet Tanzania. Of particular note was that the those losses were more than halved in Q2 compared to Q1. Our performance is expected to considerably improve in the second half of 2013 with yields having grown from US$42 to US $81 between January and June. As our planned network expansion progresses and scale covers fixed operating costs, we fully expect fastjet Tanzania to become profitable.
'Once Tanzania is fully established and profitable we will turn our attention again to the South African market. Regional routes from South Africa to Sub-Saharan destinations lack effective competition and are both underserved and overpriced and ready for an alternative to the cosy relationship between South African Airways and the respective national carrier of each country. It can cost the same amount to fly direct between two Southern African cities on a flight of 3-6 hours as it does to fly to Europe on a 10-12 hour flight.
'Based on our success in Tanzania to date, fastjet is confident in the potential of its long-term strategy to become the pan-African low cost airline of choice.'

[Wahalla]

As u imagine I watch the share forums on my investment... and I confess it is like horse racing u analyse the information.. However I think I have a level of integrity... I tend not to invest in things I dont have an interest in... But here is aa case on Fastjet that illustrates a point... this is a small stuggling airline... 9 months back they were trying to get established from pre existing airline...However there was internal disputes and an issue with paying for an aircraft lease...

today in the Tanazain press... this article of events 9 months ago....I cant cut and paste the content.. but it also gives interest..

what I like about this company as it is publicly listed it has to give a certain amount of information of events that will affect its share price... single events will greatly affect the share price... it is very people orientated so it has has to have a service focus in Africa... As it is an Aim listing it is unlikely it can give profits as a dividend... I dont expect full disclosure but by following the prospects of this company I can follow the developmental pardigm in Africa that is not extractive....Africans are the principal customers or clients....that is exciting..

http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/22796-avmax-threatens-to-repossess-three-fastjet-planes

This is buisness as usual in Africa entrench oligarchs of local interests stymie progress.. this is something that Dr Dudd mentioned happens in Jamaica...

here is my concern , when it comes to the intestive mega projects that are extractive in nature with high capital investments, high revenues.... But when there are relative low revenue low % earnings on Revenue who cant make the payments... Cheaper flights will have a social impact in development socially as well as economicly.... (Think about that people will travel meet each otehr and ahve sex, reducing the herterogenity of a country, minimising intercomunity tension in a generation!)
But Blackstar here is who is involved in Fastjet...

Fastjet woes continue

Sep 27 2013 07:24 *Rob Baker


















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Johannesburg - Fastjet’s attempts to fly in South Africa seem to hit one disappointment after another. The initial plan to purchase 1time airline didn’t work out.

Then they decided to set up a joint venture with a consortium of South Africans (including Edward Zuma, the son of the President) which ran into a storm of protest about it being a “front”, and finally they decided to focus on international routes first; with Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights being made a priority.

In July, fastjet announced that the South African department of transport had provided them with a Foreign Operator Permit and ticket sales for Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights started at the end of July 2013, with a first flight advertised as taking place on September 27.

However, fastjet on Thursday announced that it is delaying the launch even of the Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights. What upset the applecart was that fastjet changed its name from “Fly540 Tanzania t/a fastjet” to “Fastjet Airlines Limited” on August 15 2013; and the SA department of transport required additional documentation as a result.

This has been supplied and fastjet are eagerly waiting for the department to process the documents.

"This postponement is very disappointing. Unfortunately however, administrative delays of this nature are not unusual in the markets in which we operate.

"Having complied with all the requests made of us and secured all the necessary licenses and permits in an extremely diligent and timely fashion, fastjet was led to believe that we were fully on-track to launch this route on the 27th September,” said Ed Winter, the Chief Executive of fastjet.

Fastjet are hoping to get flights back up and running by the middle of October 2013.

The airline is providing passengers affected with a full refund and a re-booking with a complimentary seat to fly within a month (email [email protected] for assistance).

Fastjet plans on providing flights on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam. This route is governed by a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Tanzania; with fastjet filling a slot allocated to Tanzania.

Fastjet will become the first European style low cost carrier to operate flights on South African soil, where there is absolutely no free hold baggage allowance.

If South Africans take to the concept of paying for hold luggage in the same way as Europeans, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other low cost carriers (and even full service carriers) copying them.

- Fin24